Fence lattice and retaining means therefor

ABSTRACT

The combination of a chain link fence and an elongated metallic fence slat located in a channel formed by the fence links, and having a clip for firmly locking the slat in place within the fence fabric.

United States Patent Francis Vecchiarelli River Edge, NJ.

Aug. 1 l, 1969 Mar. 30, 197 l Alcan Aluminum Corporation Cleveland, Ohio [72] Inventor [2 1 Appl. No. [22] Filed [45 Patented [7 3 Assignee [54] FENCE LATTICE AND RETAINING MEANS THEREFOR 1 Claim, 12 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 256/34 [51] Int. Cl E04h 17/02 [50] Field of Search 256/34, 47, 12.5; 24/137, 265.1, 255 (GP), 259 (SP), 255

(SP), 243, 265.3, 243 (SP) [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 580,991 4/1897 Reeve 24/261UX 690,286 12/1901 Hines..... 24/137 1,099,034 6/1914 Girard 24/261UX 2,501,519 3/1950 Hosey 24/137X 2,542,224 2/1951 Werner 24/137 2,753,156 7/1956 Rieger 256/34X 2,809,142 10/1957 Beeber et al. 24/265X 3,069,142 12/1962 Kessler 256/34 3,355,150 11/1967 Tayl0r..... 256/34 3,356,343 12/1967 Taylor 256/34 3,384,935 5/1968 Salvador 24/ l 37 FOREIGN PATENTS 149,838 2/1953 Australia 256/12.5 258,536 4/1964 Australia 256/ l 2.5 725,998 3/1955 Great Britain 256/ 34 Primary Examiner-Dennis L. Taylor Attorneys-Robert S. Dunham, P. E. Henninger, Lester W.

Clark, Gerald W. Griffin, Thomas P. Moran, R. Bradlee Boal and Christopher C. Dunham ABSTRACT: The combination of a chain link fence and an elongated metallic fence slat located in a channel formed by the fence links, and having a clip for firmly locking the slat in place within the fence fabric.

Patented March 30, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Mfccfi/mmz/ ,4 TTDEA/Ey Patnt'ed March 30,1971

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. flPAA/c/J M cc/mwau FENCE ILA'I'IICE AND RETAINING MEANS THEREFOR Chain-link fence is used very widely in many surroundings. Such fences are formed from a fabric of interwoven strands of heavy gauge wire supported between a series of upright posts. The intertwined wire construction forms a fence having square or diamond-shaped mesh. Thus, while such fences are very strong they do not provide privacy or serve to protect against the elements due to the apertured construction. To combine the structural characteristics of a chain link fence with element excluding qualities and the' privacy provided by fences or conventional solid structure, several different types of slats have been proposed for use with chain link fences. Typical designs are described in US. Pat. No. 3,356,343 to W. H. Taylor which shows a series of elongated slats engaged with the fence fabric to provide privacy and protection against the elements. The slats commonly employed in combination with chain link fences have been constructed of aluminum venetian blind slats.

The fence slat should include some'means for securing the end of the slat to the chain link fence in order to prevent inadvertent dislodgement of the installed slat. The securing systems provided in existing slats, however, are unsatisfactory form several standpoints. Some slats include a tab extending from one end thereof, and the tab is bent around a strand in the fence to fasten the slat in place. The tab, however, is not anchored in place and is easily bent out of position whereby the slat is no longer firmly secured to the fence strand. In another fastening mode, it has been suggested that the tabs adapted to engage a fence strand be stamped out of the body of the slat. Such know arrangements, however, do not provide means for positively locking the slat to the fence, and the slat may be inadvertently dislodged from the fence.

The slat of this invention overcomes the objections to the prior designs by providing a slat locking clip for positively securing an end of the slat to a chain link fence. The locking clips are quickly and economically formed from slat scrap and allow the salt to be locked into engagement with a strand of the chain link fence by a fast and very straightforward installa- 'tion procedure. Assembly cost of the fence is thereby reduced,

and the slats present a uniform, attractive appearance in the finished fence.

In brief, the slat which is seated in the channel formed by in tersection wire strands of the fence is folded about a strand of fence to form a short overlapping flap at one face of the slat. The flap and slat are apertured to receive the locking clip, the clip being adapted to'pass through theaperture and positively engage a strand of the fence mesh oropposite faces of the slat.

Thus, a simple, readily applied means is provided to lock the slat to the fence thereby preventing inadvertent displacement.

Several embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate like parts, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevationalview of a chain link fence having slats seated in the troughs thereof;

FIG. 2 shows the upper end slat of FIG. 1 en elevation prior to folding the end of the slat about the fence strands;

FIG. 3 shows the slat of FIG. 2 after it has been folded about the fence strand and after the locking clip has been applied;

FiG. 4 is a sectional view on line'4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a locking clip similar to FIG. 4 having, however, inwardly extending locking tongues formed in the legs thereof;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a locking clip similar to that shown in FIG. 4 in which the ends of the free legs have been turned inwardly;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the upper end of a modified fence slat shown in relation to a fence strand;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a locking clip adapted to be used with a fence slat slotted such as in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the upper end of a fence slat and fence strand showing the relationship after'the end of the slat has been bent about the strand and after the locking clip of FIG. 8 has been applied;

FIG. 10 is an elevational view of a section of chain link fence having vertically positioned slats intertwined with the fence strand and having a modified slat locking clip;

FIG. 11 is a sectionahview on line 11-11 of FIG. 10; and

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the-locking clip shown in FIGS. 10 and 11.

A typical chain link fence I0 is formed of a series of interwoven, generallywertically oriented pairs of strands I2 and 14. These strands are ol'dinarily of relatively heavy gauge steel wire. The end of the two strands forming each strand pair are twisted together to form a row of barbs 16. Strands l2 and 14 extend from the upper barb away from each other to intersect and wrap around a respective strand in the adjacent strand pairs. After these intersections, the strands converge toward each other to intersect and wrap around each other. The strands thereafter again diverge to intersect and wrap around respective strands in the adjacent strand pairs. Thus, the intersecting wire strands form a fence having a series of diamondshaped openings 18. These openings constituting the mesh of the fence from a series of diagonally oriented valleys or channels in the fence which channels are adapted to receive and seat the fence slat 20.

The fence slats 20 are preferably formed from an elongated piece of thin, resilient, or flexible sheet metal, e.g. aluminum, having a curved or arched cross section such as that found in venetian blind slats. The slat can be formed in any convenient length, depending on the dimensions of the chain link fence in which the slat is to be used.

In FIGS. 1 through 4, the slat is formed with a slot 22 near one of its ends, preferably its upper end. The slat is then placed into the trough of the fence mesh or interwoven therewith, such that the end of the slat extends slightly beyond a strand of the fence mesh which, as shown in FIG. 1, may be the upper strand 24. Thereupon, the upper end of the slat is bent around the fence strand as shown in FIG. 3. This will bring portions of the slot 22 into coincidence with each other at opposite sides of the fence strand 24. Thereupon, the locking clip 26 is inserted through the slot 24 such that opposite legs of the clip engage the outer faces of the slat bight which embrace the fence strand and thereby lock the 'slat firmly into position within the mesh of the fence.

The locking clip 26, as best seen in FIG. 4, is in the form of an open ended keyholelike loop, the legs 28 and 30 thereof converging toward each other at their free ends to give the clip a spring action when it is put into place.

In FIG. 5, there is shown a modified locking clip 32 which has a form similar to the clip 26 but which has formed in its opposite legs 34 and 36 a pair of inwardly extending tongues 38 and 40, the free ends thereof being adapted to engage the outer faces of the bent over portion of the fence slat. The tongues 38 and 40 insure that the clip is not accidentally removed from the fence slat. A force tending to lift the clip from the fence slot would merely cause the inwardly extending tongues 38 and 40 to dig into the slat material which ordinarily would be of relatively soft material. The only way to remove a clip such as in FIG. 5 would be to deliberately separate its legs 34 and 36 prior to upward movement.

The clip 42 of FIG. 6 has a form in general similar to the clip of FIG. 5, and it achieves the same result by turning inwardly the free ends of its legs 44 and 46 to form a pair of upwardly extending converging jaws 48 and 50. These jaws perform the same function in locking the clip into place as that performed by the inwardly extending tongues 38 and 40 of the clip illustrated in FIG. 5, i.e. they will dig into the material of the fence slat if a force tends to lift the clip upwardly once installed in the fence. The only way the clip of FIG. 6 can be removed after installation is to separate the legs 44 and 46 and to hold them in separate position until the clip is disengaged from the fence.

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 disclose still a different slat configuration and a different form of locking clip adapted to be used therewith. In FIG. 7, the upper end of the slat is shown as having two pairs of spaced aligned slots 5254 and 5658. In

this form of slat fastening, the pairs of spaced, aligned slots are arranged in respect to a fence strand 14, such that the slots 52 and 56 are positioned above the strand and the slots 54--58 are positioned below the strand. When so positioned, the upper end of the fence slat is bent about the fence strand such that the slot 52 coincides with the slot 54 and the slot 56 coincides with the slot 58. When the fence slat has been so bent about the fence strand, all as shown in FIG. 9, a locking clip 60 is passed through the coincident slots of the fence slat and fastened therein. By reference to FIG. 8, it will be seen that the clip 60 is a generally U-shaped structure having a pair of parallel legs 62 and 64 interconnected by a web 66. In the installation of a clip such as shown in FIG. 8, into a slat such as shown in FIG. 9, the leg 62 is passed through slots 56 and 58 and the leg 64 is passed through the slots 52 and 54. The portion of the legs 62 and 64 extending beyond the fence slat is then bent over tightly into contact with the face of the bent over portion of the slat end. When this is done, a secure lock is provided for the slat which cannot be accidentally removed no matter what the forces of nature are that are applied against the latch, only a straightening of the legs 62-64 would permit the latch to be withdrawn from this locking position. Such straightening would follow only upon deliberate human intervention.

FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 show still a further form of a slat latch, which is somewhat similar to that shown in FIG. 8. In FIG. the slats are shown intertwined with the mesh of the fence in a vertical direction. Herein the end of the slat is formed with a single aperture 68. The method of fastening the slat of FIG. 10 has the advantage that the end of the slat need not be bent about a fence strand.

In the fastening mode of FIGS. 10 and 11, a locking clip 70 is employed. The locking clip resembles that of FIG. 8 in that it is a generally U-shaped structure having legs 72 and 74 interconnected by a bight 76.

When the fence slats 20 are intertwined within the fence mesh, as in fig. 10, the aperture 68 is brought across one of the upper fence strands as, for example, the strand 14 in FIG. 10. The clip of FIG. 12 is then inserted through the aperture 68 such that the bight 76 of the clip engages the fence strand 14 as more clearly shown in FIG. 11. When this position of the clip is attained, the legs 72 and 74 of the clip will extend beyond the opposite face of the fence slat 20 where they are bent over into tight contact with the fence slat as fully shown in FIG. 11. This form of fastening means also has the advantage that inadvertent or natural forces cannot dislodge the clip. The only way the clip can be removed from its locking position is by human effort applied to the legs 72 and 74 to straighten them to a point where removal of the clip is possible.

Iclaim:

1. In combination with a chain link fence having a lattice formed by intertwined wires a plurality of elongated slats inserted within the lattice and folded about the top portion of the fence wires, said slats containing a slot near their upper .ends, the slot being present on both the main portion of the slat and its flap portion when so folded, and readily separable independent retainer clip means disposed within said slots, said clip means comprising a head portion, a pair of arms extending therefrom, and a pair of shoulders flexibly attached to said arms, so that upon insertion of the clip into the slot the shoulders cause the main portion of the slat to abut with its flap portion thereby affixing said slats to the fence lattice. 

1. In combination with a chain link fence having a lattice formed by intertwined wires a plurality of elongated slats inserted within the lattice and folded about the top portion of the fence wires, said slats containing a slot near their upper ends, the slot being present on both the main portion of the slat and its flap portion when so folded, and readily separable independent retainer clip means disposed within said slots, said clip means comprising a head portion, a pair of arms extending therefrom, and a pair of shoulders flexibly attached to said arms, so that upon insertion of the clip into the slot the shoulders cause the main portion of the slat to abut with its flap portion thereby affixing said slats to the fence lattice. 